Cities 92.9 News Updates

Thursday, August 17, 2017

The head of the McLean County Republican Party is responding to critics after posting facebook comments supporting President Trump's statement about the violence in Virginia. McLean County Republican Party Chairman Chuck Erickson called the president's words common sense remarks, on facebook earlier this week. Erickson now says violence on both sides is bad, but he says their speech is protected under the first amendment.Erickson says that violence from either side is unacceptable. He says governments must respond as they have in the past with law enforcement, military and due process to stop illegal acts.

32-year-old Steven McCuen is charged with leaving the scene of a personal injury accident which occurred Monday in the 1400 block of Six Points Road, two felony counts of aggravated driving under the influence and a misdemeanor DUI charge. The incident left a 16-year-old boy critically injured. Bond was set for McCuen at $750,000. One of the felony DUI counts indicates that the Monday night incident was McCuen's third drunken driving offense; he has another pending in Logan County, according to court records.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

The Illinois State Police have opened an investigation into the use of a city credit card to buy an airline ticket to let Mayor Tari Renner's girlfriend travel with him to Japan for a weeklong sister cities anniversary event earlier this month. An official with the state police investigations unit based in Pontiac confirmed to the Pantagraph Wednesday afternoon there is an investigation but declined to comment further. Renner had been invited to be on Thursday's Morning Buzz with Tom Davis but has of yet to respond to the invitation. Source: Pantagraph

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Police have made an arrest in Monday's hit and run that severely injured a 16-year-old bicyclist. 32 year old Steven McCuen was arrested Tuesday by Bloomington Police and the U.S. Marshall service. McCuen is charged with failure to report and accident with an injury and driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol. Just before 9pm Monday night, it's alleged that McCuen struck the 16 year old male riding a bike on 6 Points Road. Witnesses reported seeing a white vehicle leaving the scene of the accident. The vicitm was first transported to a local hospital then lifeflighted to a hospital in Peoria where he remains in critical condition. The investigation of the incident remains ongoing.

Portillo's Restaurant in Normal is open for business. After several training days with invited guests, including media day last Thursday, the store is open for the masses. Some diners arrvied as early as 6:30am Tuesday to be one of the first in line. The town of Normal landed Portillo's, a Chicago area favorite, by agreeing to give developer Bloomington Landmark $1.875 million in future sales tax receipts from the restaurant to subsidize demolition and construction. The total could reach $2.5 million with interest.

A lot more people want a seat on Bloomington's police review board than first thought. The city's spokeswoman yesterday said 40 people submitted applications by yesterday's deadline. Bloomington's city council last month created the Public Safety and Community Relations Board to improve relationships between the police and some folks in the community. Bloomington's mayor and city council will now
select seven people to serve on the board.